White House to Send $90 Medicare Payments to More Than 20 Million Seniors
The administration said it will use the Medicare Improvement Fund for the first time to send one-time $90 payments to Part B enrollees. Direct deposits and checks are scheduled for early October. Seniors whose premiums Medicaid already covers are excluded.
Tommy Flynn
The White House said President Donald Trump has ordered one-time payments of $90 to more than 20 million people on Medicare to offset Part B premiums.
The fact sheet, dated Oct. 2, says the money will come from the Medicare Improvement Fund. Congress created the fund in 2008 and has given it $2 billion for improvements to fee-for-service Medicare. No administration has used it to pay beneficiaries, the White House said. Most eligible seniors are to receive a $90 direct deposit in early October. Those without direct deposit are to get a check at the address on file with Medicare.
Most Part B enrollees qualify. People whose premiums Medicaid already pays do not. Neither do enrollees who pay an Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, the surcharge on higher-income beneficiaries. Eligibility questions go to 1-800-MEDICARE. Payment status goes to the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213.
The White House called Trump the first president to use the fund to lower costs directly. It said earlier Congresses had treated the account as a budget offset, including what it described as a Democratic raid of $20.7 billion during passage of the Affordable Care Act. The fact sheet did not include a legal opinion on whether a premium rebate fits the fund’s statutory purpose. It also did not say how many of the 20 million will be reached by direct deposit versus paper check.
The announcement sits next to other cost items the administration has already put out. On Sept. 10 the White House said it would send $500 refunds to nearly 1 million people it says were overcharged for Obamacare coverage. On Sept. 18 it announced lower drug prices for Medicaid programs in all 50 states and said it had reached 26 manufacturer deals covering nearly 90 percent of the branded market. A rural-health fund of $50 billion was part of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. None of those is the Medicare payment. The $90 figure is new, and it is drawn from an account that had not been used for checks.
Seniors can confirm eligibility only through Medicare and Social Security. The fact sheet does not set a day certain in October for the deposits.
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